Adventist News

"Nothing — not surviving a car wreck en route to his wedding, nor being a Seventh-day Adventist missionary, nor years in the pulpit — had prepared Dan Jackson for the challenge his daughter threw at him on a Saturday afternoon.

The eldest of their three teenage children at the time didn't appreciate the weekly ritual of attending Sabbath services where dad was the preacher.

“ ‘You make us go to church because you don't want to look bad,’ ” Jackson recalled her saying. "It hit me like a brick, right between the eyes. … I was stunned."

After pondering her words for a couple of hours with his wife Donna, Jackson called the children together to announce that when they turned 17 years old, attending Rutland Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kelowna, British Columbia, where Jackson served, would be their choice.

"There were a lot of people who thought I was stark raving mad," he said of his parishioners. "Seventh-day Adventists have strong beliefs and a strong culture, and we can force people into the mold, but we really don't help them in the long run.""